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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 120 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  3. This piece is in a major ________________.
  4. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  16. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  17. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. The people resisted their cruel ________________.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. ruler — for measuring
  3. key — in music
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. field — farmland
  6. key — the most important part
  7. clip — for paper
  8. chest — of your body
  9. clip — a video
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. field — for sport
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. wound — an injury
  14. chest — a box
  15. fan — to cool the air
  16. ruler — for measuring
  17. key — for a lock
  18. chest — of your body
  19. field — a subject
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. wound — an injury
  22. shower — to wash
  23. shower — rain
  24. ruler — a monarch

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com